Nuclear renaissance (what renaissance?) continues to crash and burn

Anti-nuclear activists can be forgiven for launching into a chorus of "na na hey hey" today as another new U.S. reactor project bites the dust. The latest Nuclear Retreat comes from Constellation Energy which has ditched plans for a third reactor in Maryland at the Calvert Cliffs site. Constellation was looking at a $880 million price tag even with a federal loan guarantee from the Obama administration. Constellation's withdrawal is another blow for its French partner, EDF, already struggling with its reactor project on the French Normandy coast which is over-budget, behind schedule and beset with technical problems. It also deals a further blow to Areva whose flagship EPR reactor was destined for Calvert Cliffs. Beyond Nuclear also released a press statement on the Constellation decision.

Update on October 12, 2010 by admin

Here's what Peter Bradford (former NRC commissioner) and Harvey Wasserman have to say about the latest nuclear retreat.

Update on October 12, 2010 by admin

See the latest article, in the New York Times, on the nuclear retreat.  Despite the article's title that a sluggish economy is to blame, the article actually contends that a slump in electricity demand, along with nuclear power's inherent economic risks, is the cause. 

Update on October 16, 2010 by admin

And read Maryland PIRG state director, Johanna Neumann's op-ed in the Baltimore Sun on EDF's attempts to keep the project alive.

Solar panels coming to White House

The most famous residence in America, which has already boosted its green credentials by planting a garden whose produce is used in the White House kitchens, plans to install solar panels atop the White House's living quarters. The solar panels are to be installed by spring 2011, and will heat water for the first family and supply some electricity. Solar panels have been on the White House before during the Carter administration (subsequently removed by President Reagan) and, with less fanfare, on related White House buildings during the George W. Bush adminstration. It was Beyond Nuclear Launch Partner, Steven Strong (pictured) of Solar Design Associates, who designed and installed several solar-powered systems for the Bush White House swimming pool and other facilities. (Photo: Solar Design Associates).

7 Great Lakes States' U.S. Senators object to radioactive steam generator shipment from Canada to Sweden

Seven U.S. Senators from Great Lakes States -- Russell Feingold (D-WI), Robert Casey Jr. (D-PA), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Carl Levin (D-MI), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Richard Durbin (D-IL, Assistant Senate Majority Leader), and Charles Schumer (D-NY) -- have written to the U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration (PHMSA) and the Canadian federal government, expressing serious concerns about a proposed shipment of 16 radioactive steam generators from Bruce Nuclear Power Plant in Ontario to Sweden for "recycling" into consumer products. The shipment, on board a single ship, would violate International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) limits for the quantity of radioactivity aboard a single vessel. The shipment would travel via Lake Huron to Lake St. Clair, Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, and connecting rivers (St. Clair, Detroit, the Welland canal, and St. Lawrence), and then across the Atlantic Ocean (see route map). Shockingly, Bruce Power's CEO, Duncan Hawthorne, has stated that there is no emergency plan for dealing with the sinking of the ship, stating there would be plenty of time to determine what to do once the ship sank. The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, as well as the US DOT PHMSA, must approve permits for the shipment before it can commence. PHMSA has recently been the subject of severe criticism for oil pipeline leak and natural gas pipeline explosion disasters, as well as for the close ties between its leadership and companies involved in these disasters. Beyond Nuclear, along with a coalition of environmental groups, has called upon PHMSA to conduct a full environmental analysis on the proposed shipment, in order to fulfill its National Environmental Policy Act federal legal obligations, before permitting the shipment to enter U.S. territorial waters on the Great Lakes -- 20% of the world's surface fresh water, drinking supply for 40 million in the U.S., Canada, and numerous Native American/First Nations, and regional engine for one of the biggest economies on the planet.